Over 50 passengers were injured when a Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) flight from Madinah to Dhaka was forced to make an emergency landing at Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport

The flight SV3818 suffered a malfunction with its landing gear mid-flight was forced to circle Jeddah for several hours around Jeddah, making two low passes before it landed safely with its nose gear retracted at 10pm local time.

Saudi Arabian Airlines spokesperson, Eng. Abdulrahman al-Tayeb, explained that the flight took off from Medinah at 8pm local time on Monday night, headed for Dhaka Airport in Bangladesh. He said that during the early stages of the flight, a defect was detected in the aircraft’s hydraulic system and the pilots made the decision to divert the plane to Jeddah.

“When the landing attempt was made, the front wheels could not be lowered,” al-Tayeb told the local media.

“After several attempts, they decided to land without taking down the front wheels after taking all necessary precautions. The plane landed safely and the 141 guests took off the plane with the 10 crew members.”